AUBURN, Alabama -- Eric Mack says he was so concerned about his fallen friends that he didn't realize he had been shot at the scene of a deadly shooting Saturday night.

The Auburn offensive lineman, who was hit in the buttocks, found two of his former teammates dead or dying, and three others hit.

"I just wanted to make sure everybody was safe," Mack told the Times and Democrat in Orangeburg, S.C., a newspaper near his hometown of St. Matthews. "I wasn't even worried about myself. When I first found out I got shot, I didn't even really realize it. I was still walking around checking on my teammates making sure they were all right.

"I just couldn't believe it. It just seemed unreal. Even now, it still seems unreal. I couldn't believe it."

Former teammates Ed Christian and Ladarious Phillips were killed, as was Auburn resident DeMario Pitts at the shooting at University Heights apartments. John Robertson is in critical condition at UAB Hospital in Birmingham. Xavier Moss was treated and released the night of the shooting, and Mack was released from the East Alabama Medical Center on Sunday.

Mack told the newspaper that his thoughts turned to his 4-year-old daughter, Kaliyah, immediately after the shooting .

"My daughter was on my mind ever since last night when I heard the gunshots," Mack said. "That's the first thing I thought about. I thought, 'If I don't make it home, who's going to take care of her?' That's what lifted my spirit. When I talked to her, that was really good for me."

Mack said the incident "was definitely an eye opener for me. I actually look at it as motivation. Now I can go out there and do something for myself and my family...especially for my teammates' families. Because they're not here to do it for them, I feel like that's one of my responsibilities now."